 | Songs for little people |  |
5
A MIDNIGHT DANCE
This boy will tell you, I am sure,
How moon and mouse played on the floor;
But he can tell a stranger thing
Of fairy fiddle and magic string.
How moon and mouse played on the floor;
But he can tell a stranger thing
Of fairy fiddle and magic string.
Nurse says his eyes are far away,
He cannot play as others play;
And so, perhaps, the fairies came
To cheer him with a midnight game.
He cannot play as others play;
And so, perhaps, the fairies came
To cheer him with a midnight game.
His room was full of friendly beams,
Ladders of fancy, light of dreams;
The moon had placed a shiny hand
On carpet, bed, and washing-stand.
Ladders of fancy, light of dreams;
The moon had placed a shiny hand
On carpet, bed, and washing-stand.
6
The mouse within the silver lake
Was nibbling crumbs of currant cake,
When thirty fairies bright to see
Appeared in gauzy company.
Was nibbling crumbs of currant cake,
When thirty fairies bright to see
Appeared in gauzy company.
The girls in sheeny petticoats,
Singing delicious treble notes,
With moving mazes charmed the eye,
Adepts in dance and minstrelsy.
Singing delicious treble notes,
With moving mazes charmed the eye,
Adepts in dance and minstrelsy.
And then came marching from the door,
With steady steps across the floor,
Fairies, made servants for their sins,
With tiny golden violins.
With steady steps across the floor,
Fairies, made servants for their sins,
With tiny golden violins.
These formed a group beside the bed;
Each bent his small obedient head,
And then was scraped a dance so sweet
It captured all the hearers' feet.
Each bent his small obedient head,
And then was scraped a dance so sweet
It captured all the hearers' feet.
Oh, how they flitted! how they leapt!
In magic undulations swept!
And how the fiddlers' fiery bows
Cried faster to the tripping toes!
In magic undulations swept!
7
Cried faster to the tripping toes!
Most rare and lovely was the view—
The twist of red, the flash of blue!
The mouse unfrightened, stared to see
The skipping hues of revelry.
The twist of red, the flash of blue!
The mouse unfrightened, stared to see
The skipping hues of revelry.
Suddenly stopped the dancing din,
The fiddlers fled, the moon went in:
'Twas thus the kindly fairies came
To show this boy a midnight game.
The fiddlers fled, the moon went in:
'Twas thus the kindly fairies came
To show this boy a midnight game.
| Songs for little people | |